Establishment of characteristic fingerprint of volatile components in <i>Batocera horsfieldi</i> (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) host plants and correlation analysis with climatic factors

Batocera horsfieldi is the primary stemboring pest of timber forests and economic forests in China, belonging to the Coleoptera Cerambycidae. In this study, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to analyze the volatile components in the supplementary feeding hosts and oviposition hosts of B. horsfieldi, and characteristic fingerprints were constructed. A total of 168 compounds were detected, primarily consisting of terpenes, hydrocarbons, and aldehydes, with 75, 23, and 14 compounds, respectively. Hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis yielded consistent results. The similarity evaluation results showed that the similarity range between healthy poplar tree bark and healthy poplar leaves was the highest, reaching 0.953-0.98, and 10 common peaks were identified. The analysis of the correlation with climatic factors shows that most compounds are positively correlated with mean annual humidity, mean annual temperature, mean annual minimum temperature, and mean annual maximum temperature. Only caryophyllene and alpha-guaiene are negatively correlated with temperature-related climatic factors. Pathway analysis also reveals differences in the direct effects of different compounds. These analytical results provide a theoretical basis for further studying the selection mechanism of B. horsfieldi on hosts and offer theoretical guidance for identifying plant-derived attractants with biological activity.